KT profits record a loss for 4th quarter in a row

KT’s profit fell for the fourth straight quarter after Korea’s largest landline phone and Internet company lost broadband market share and increased spending to promote its Web television service.
Fourth-quarter net income declined 30 percent to 114.8 billion won ($121 million), from 164 billion won a year earlier, according to figures derived from annual results disclosed by KT today.
Sales for the quarter rose 3.4 percent to 3 trillion won.
KT is predicting higher profit and record revenue this year as it aims to win more subscribers for new services, such as Internet-based television and wireless high-speed connections.
The company plans to spend most of this year’s 2.6 trillion won investment budget on new businesses.
“Profitability from 2008 will improve on the back of the new Internet TV services and the company’s ability to control costs,” Yang Jong-in, an analyst at Korea Investment and Securities Company, wrote in a report yesterday.
Bloomberg